Combined valve stem and operating button for pressure packed materials



June 20, 1961 ET AL RATING BUTTON R. H. ABP NALP INED VALVE STE ND OPE F HTP BWM/gam@ ,aTToQA/E Y United States Patent O 2,989,251 COMBINED VALViE STEM AND OPERATING BUT- TON FOR PRESSURE PA'CKED MATERIALS Robert H. Abplanalp, Bronxville, and John R. Focht,

Yonkers, N.Y., assignors to Precision Valve Corporation, Yonkers, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed July 5, i957, Ser. No. 670,263 Claims. (Cl. 239-468) This invention is a valve stem and operating button for pressure packed materials and, more particularly, materials comprising solid particle active ingredients suspended in a liquid vehicle which generally constitutes a propellant, although the propellant may be additionally packaged with the active ingredient and the vehicle.

In dispensing pressure packed material of this kind, it is highly desirable that the material will be dispensed in a spray pattern throughout which the solid constituents in finely divided form will be uniformly distributed. Experience has shown that this result can be -best accomplished by forming a whirling spray pattern wherein the several constituents of the material swirl at high velocity and thus become thoroughly distributed throughout the spray pattern.

Prior to this invention the whirling spray effect has been produced by special buttons having therein complicated ducts and chambersfin which a swirling action of the material was initiated or generated. Generally the button was made of a plurality of parts which were assembled to obtain the necessary duct and chamber formations.

The object of the present invention is to provide a combination wherein a simple form of button well known in the art for the production of conventional spray patterns may be employed without material change, the valve stem with which the button is associated being so constituted that the whirling or swirling impetus to the material is generated within the valve stem before such material passes through the discharge orifice of the button to form the whirling spray pattern.

The foregoing result is obtained by utilizing a tubular valve stem provided at one side of its exterior with a circular recess or cavity and connecting this cavity to the bore of the tubular valve stem by a passage which communicates with said circular recess olf center and preferably substantially tangential to the latter. With this arrangement the material flowing from the associated container through the bore of the valve stem passes through said passage and, entering the circular recess tangentially thereof, partakes of a swirling motion about the confines of this recess and is fed therefrom through the discharge orifice of the button to form a spray pattern in which the swirling of this material persists.

'Ihe present invention is an extremely simple construction for performing a rather difficult operation and it accomplishes the result stated while making unnecessary the employment of buttons of special construction.

Features of the invention, other than those adverted to, will be apparent from the hereinafter detailed description and appended claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

The drawing illustrates one practical embodiment of the invention, but the construction therein shown is to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the outer end of a valve stem of a valve pressurized package of material to be dispensed through said stem.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal transverse section through the valve stem and through a valve operating button associated therewith.

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FIG. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1. The structure, designated 3 in this gure, forms no part ofthis sectional view.

In said drawings, l designates the upper end portion of a valve stem, with the lower end of which is associated a valve mounted within a pressurized container, such, for example, as shown in Robert H. Abplanalp Patent No. 2,631,814, issued March 17, 1953. The valve stem of the present invention is provided at one side thereof and in its exterior surface `with a circular recess 2 which is preferably cylindrical. A passage 3 leads from the interior or bore of the stem to the circular recess Z off center of the latter and preferably tangentially thereof. This passage is shown as formed by a notch 4 in the upper edge of the stem to connect the interior of the stem to an upright channel 5 in the outer surface of the wall of said stem, although it may be formed in any other appropriate manner so long as it merges into the recess 2 olf center of the latter.

A button for operating the valve is indicated at 6. The form of button shown is that illustrated in FIG. 5 of Robert H. Abplanalp Patent No. 2,783,502. It is provided with a socket 7 adapted to receive the upper end of the valve stem and on one side has a discharge orifice 8 leading from said socket to an external recess 9. This type of button is preferable because it has proven through use in the millions to possess high efficiency in the 4formation of a satisfactory spray pattern of conventional form. It works equally well with the whirling spray pattern produced according to the present invention.

The button may be -used exactly as shown in the last mentioned Abplanalp patent. However, it is essential for the satisfactory functioning of this invention that the discharge orifice 8 be substantially coaxial with the circular recess 2 of the valve stem and it is therefore desirable to so associate the button with the stem as to insure this relation at all times. To this end the socket 7 of the 4button may be provided with a at side 10 adapted to cooperate with a similarly shaped fiat side 11 on the valve stem. The parts are so related that, when assembled with the flat sides of the stem and button in engagement with one another, the discharge orice will be coaxial with the recess Z.

Any other suitable means for registering these parts may be employed and any other appropriate button may be used without departing from this invention which is directed primarily to the formation of the circular recess within the outer surface of the valve stem and communicating through a substantially coaxial tangential passage with the interior of such valve stem.

When the construction, as hereinbefore described, is incorporated in a package of pressure packed material, downward pressure upon the button 6 will result in opening of the valve. 'Ihe material thereby released from the associated container is forced by the propellant upwardly through the valve stem and through the passage 3 into the circular recess. In such chamber it is caused to swirl about the axis of the recess and exit centrally therefrom through the discharge orifice 8 to form a spray pattern in which the various constituents of the material are thoroughly admixed and the solids separated into discrete particles which are uniformly distributed throughout the pattern.

The foregoing detailed description sets forth the invention in its preferred practical form, but the invention is to be understood as commensurate with the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure Letters Patent is:

1. A tubular valve stem provided in its outer surface with an unencumbered circular recess the axis of which Patented June 20, 1961` is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the valve stem, and a passage leading from the interior of the valve stem to said circular recess and merging therewith tangentially of the latter.

2. A valve stem according to claim l, wherein said passage comprises a notch in the upper edge of the valve stern, and a channel leading from said notch to the circular recess.

3. The combination of a valve stem according to claim 1, and a valve operating button having a socket in which the free end of the valve stem is seated and having a discharge orifice coaxial with the circular recess.

4. The combination according to claim 3, comprising means for maintaining the discharge orice and circular recess in coaxial relation.

5. The combination according to claim 4, said maintaining means comprising a at surface in the wall of the socket and a corresponding fiat surface on the exterior Wall of the valve stem.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,692,166 Fournier et al. Oct. 19. 1954 2,693,983 Howell NOV. 9, 1954 2,702,957 Cooprider et al. Mar. 1, 1955 2,767,023 Venus Oct. 16, 1956 2,789,012 Bretz Apr. 16, 1957 2,801,029 Bretz July 30, 1957 2,906,461 Bretz Sept. 29, 1959 

